The Aquarium of the Pacific holds an offbeat collection drive.

Published at 9:19 PM PST on Jan 9, 2012

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The Aquarium of the Pacific wants your Styrofoam. Why? So it can go into eco-cool surfboards. Drop it off on Saturday, Jan. 14.

Collection drives come in all shapes and sizes and needs, and thank goodness, too; pretty much everything has a use, and, in some cases, multiple uses.

Take Styrofoam. When most people open a clamshell to remove a sandwich, or stow a cooler made of the stuff, it probably doesn't occur to them that polystyrene foam is also going into other products. Like, say, surfboards. Surprised? Maybe not.

Intrigued? Probably definitely. If so, and, even better, if you have some Styrofoam to donate, you can make for the Aquarium of the Pacific on Saturday, Jan. 14. The aquarium is holding a Styrofoam drive. All Styrofoam -- also called Plastic No. 6 -- will head to Marko Foam in Irvine, where it will then start its journey toward becoming part of some surfer's cool ride. It's part of the Waste to Waves program.

Yep, it is neat. Yep, it is the future. Yep, we probably have some of the stuff around, courtesy of holiday gift packaging. And, here's a bonus: You'll get a 20 percent coupon for the Aquarium's Pacific Collection store. Note you'll need to use your coupon on Jan. 14. But if you do find something, you'll want to talk up to pals how a Styrofoam collection helped you get it. It's an interesting backstory.

For more on Waste to Waves, and to discover other collection sites and dates, check out the Waste to Waves program. Hanging ten never looked so eco-nice.